This site is all about the love of reading.

Alternative reads

I don’t cook. The whole process frustrates me, and the results are rarely good – although I haven’t actually poisoned myself yet, so that’s something. My mom, on the other hand, probably should have been a chef or a baker. Her food is delicious, and she gets genuine enjoyment from spending time in the kitchen (and, I suspect, genuine frustration from my lack of interest in all things culinary).

As a result of my mom’s passion for cooking, and my passion for eating, I’ve started to acquire quite the impressive collection of cookbooks.

I keep my cookbooks on my coffee table or book shelf instead of in my kitchen because let’s face it, when you don’t cook a cookbook is really nothing more than a beautifully illustrated series of non-fiction stories.

I’ve often spent a lazy Sunday afternoon flipping through the introductions, write-ups and recipe lists, salivating over the photos, and flagging recipes that I can take home to mom just in time for the next family dinner. I love finding out more about why a chef picked one ingredient over another, how this herb or that root is harvested, why butter really is better, etc.

I may not be a fan of non-fiction, but I’m definitely a fan of food fiction.

I was a bit late to the party when it came to The Night Circus. This awesome book by Erin Morgenstern was published in 2011, and I was sadly oblivious about it until a friend bought me a copy for my birthday in 2013.

Have you ever read a book where the words just feel good in your brain? That’s the only way I can describe it. The story, the characters, the language, the art … it’s just breathtaking.

I’m not going to write a review because I can’t possibly describe it without ruining some of the magic of the book (plus, so many other people have already done so, and I don’t know that my repeated exclamations of “it’s just awesome, so read it” would be adding much to the conversation). I will say that I wanted to start reading it again as soon as I hit the last word, and I have shamelessly pushed copies on most of my family and friends. The Night Circus is definitely my favourite book of the 2010s (and I’m not even going to put the “so far” caveat on that!).

Here’s a quick interview with author Erin Morgenstern. It’s from a few years ago, but still interesting to hear her process and her thoughts on the response from readers.